Publications: ExchangeMonitor Morning Briefing

Centrus Energy Corp. has started work on a next-generation uranium enrichment cascade that could give the company a leg up in the competition to build the next domestic enrichment facility for national defense, according to a document published Wednesday by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In a June 27 letter to the federal regulator, the […]

WASHINGTON — The Barack Obama administration’s National Nuclear Security Administration leadership duo whipped the Donald Trump administration here Tuesday to immediately extend the New START nuclear arms control treaty with Russia and forget, for now, about modifying the pact. The bilateral treaty, which limits Moscow and Washington to 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads and 700 […]

The Department of Energy acknowledged Wednesday that for six years it sent nuclear weapons waste to the Nevada National Security Site in violation of its waste acceptance criteria. The agency confirmed the information the same day Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) made it public in a press release. Senior DOE officials including Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, head of […]

As expected, Northrop Grumman on Tuesday said that its board has elected Kathy Warden as its chairman effective Aug. 1, adding to her current duties of president and CEO of the $30 billion defense company. Warden succeeds Wes Bush, who has been the company’s chairman since July 2011. Bush will resign from the board effective July […]

The Department of Energy is scheduled next week to send a cesium-137 source that contaminated a University of Washington building in May to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for “forensic analysis,” an agency spokesperson said Tuesday. Until then, the damaged irradiator’s cesium-137 source remains in the Research and Training Building near the university’s Harborview […]

Rita Baranwal is scheduled to be sworn in Thursday as assistant secretary for nuclear energy at the Department of Energy. Energy Secretary Rick Perry will handle the swearing-in ceremony, a DOE official said. An industry source said Baranwal has already started work, including receiving internal briefings. The Senate confirmed Baranwal on June 20, just over […]

Developmental nuclear power reactors do not provide an easy solution to management of the radioactive waste generated by the technology, according to a onetime head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. “Plans to revitalize US nuclear power, which is in dire economic straits, depend on the potential for new, ‘advanced’ reactors to reduce and recycle […]

A bill to reauthorize the Energy Department’s continued nuclear cleanup at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state drew scant attention Tuesday during a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources energy subcommittee. The measure was one of 11 bills for consideration and testimony at the one-hour morning legislative hearing. Subcommittee Chairman […]

The House Rules Committee late Tuesday approved floor debate for 11 nuclear-related amendments to the lower chamber’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal 2020. The committee is scheduled to meet again today at 3 p.m. Eastern time, so further nuclear amendments — lawmakers proposed some 25 for the House NDAA — could still be […]

Participation in the 2018 public survey on issues at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state was less than half the count from the prior year. Only 55 people took part in the latest online survey, with 51 completing all the questions, far below the 119 responses a year earlier. Of those responding to […]

The Department of Energy is taking public comment through Aug. 2 on a $218 million proposal, along with less-costly options, for minimizing health and environmental risks at the Plutonium Uranium Extraction (PUREX) Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The preferred option focuses on a key building and annexes at the plant – not two […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) expects around July 29 to issue the request for proposals for decommissioning of the long-retired SM-1 nuclear power reactor at Fort Belvoir, Va. The contract will feature both firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-incentive fee components, according to a presolicitation notice issued Monday. It will have a five-year term. The Army […]

The Department of Energy inspector general has “potential concerns” about agency oversight of $500,000 in grant money awarded to a regional group that promotes economic development around the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. That is the assessment offered in a July 2 memorandum from Deputy Inspector General Michelle Anderson to DOE Undersecretary for […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission might not move ahead with a potential rulemaking on security requirements for independent spent fuel storage installations (ISFSI). The agency’s Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards has scheduled a meeting for Wednesday to consider the status and “potential discontinuation” of the rulemaking, according to a meeting announcement. The 12-year-old […]

The House Rules Committee is scheduled today to begin setting the terms of debate for its fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) — a process that will determine which of the 25 nuclear and nuclear-adjacent amendments proposed to the bill will actually make it to the floor later this week. Casting a shadow over the rules […]

Diverting some money within the decommissioning trust fund for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts would not undermine the intended function of the account, according to staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Agency staff on July 1 issued an environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for Entergy’s application for a […]

The Pike County, Ohio, General Health District wants the U.S. Department of Energy to provide it with corrected air sampling reports from 2001 through 2017 after a federal official acknowledged last month a contractor under-reported potential contamination around the Portsmouth Site. Energy Undersecretary for Science Paul Dabbar said in a June 6 letter to Pike […]

A regional group that promotes communities around the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico says it has fixed weaknesses in its travel reimbursement policy and other financial procedures. In a June 24 public meeting, Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) Executive Director Eric Vasquez outlined steps taken over the past year to […]

The U.S. Department of Energy expects within 15 to 60 days to issue a draft request for proposals for remediation at the 33,000-acre Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. The agency posted its plans for the solicitation July 2 on a federal procurement website. Vendors should expect a 100% full and open competition with a pre-solicitation […]

A federal appeals court decided last week it does not need to hear oral arguments about whether the U.S. government violated environmental law when it sent half a metric ton of weapon-usable plutonium to the Nevada in 2018. In what could be a sign that judges will rule swiftly on Nevada’s appeal of a lower […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s energy subcommittee is scheduled next Tuesday to consider legislation to reauthorize Energy Department cleanup at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York. The West Valley Reauthorization Act, H.R. 1138, passed the full House of Representatives by voice vote on March 5. The legislation from Rep. Tom Reed […]

The Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will not be published Thursday, in observance of Independence Day. Look for our next issue in your inbox on Monday, July 8. In addition, the weekly Weapons Complex Monitor, Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor, and RadWaste Monitor will be published this afternoon in advance of the holiday.

Duke Energy has asked the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to rule by the end of this year on its application to transfer licenses for its shuttered Crystal River nuclear plant to another company for decommissioning. Duke filed the license transfer application on June 14, about two weeks after it announced it had hired Accelerated Decommissioning […]

BWX Technologies has finished a uranium conversion contract for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the agency confirmed this week. The semiautonomous Department of Energy weapons agency awarded the roughly $30-million contract in 2011 and extended it through June 30, 2019, at no cost. The NNSA wanted BWX Technologies to hold on to some converted […]

Bechtel and the Energy Department are accepting public comment through Aug. 30 on a proposed modification to the Washington state Department of Ecology hazardous waste permit for the Low-Activity Waste and Effluent Management facilities being built at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The permit revision will provide operational details for the two facilities in […]

Staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have determined that the Vermont state government is largely ready to assume regulatory authority over some radioactive materials. The only significant issue was with certain state regulations that require revision, the agency said Tuesday in a Federal Register notice. Vermont has said it will address those issues. In […]